


Proving Worth

by R_Black



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Galra Reverse Bang 2018, Gen, I'm so sorry it feels rushed, my mind's eyes were bigger than the wordcount, pre-show setting, this wanted to be longer but I had to restrict it to under 5k
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-11 16:50:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15976448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R_Black/pseuds/R_Black
Summary: A newly-promoted Commander Sniv has found a team of personal mercenaries, something the other Hub commanders find distasteful. However, it seems he chose an awkward time to do so: there's a killer on the loose, and they're targeting the commanders!





	Proving Worth

**Author's Note:**

> My entry for the Galra Reverse Bang 2018~!  
> [Purplerubyred](http://purplerubyred.tumblr.com/) was my artist partner for the Reverse Bang, and let me tell you, her art was so inspiring I ran out of words and had to condense to fit within the word count limit! Ruby, thank you for your lovely art!

* * *

It felt fantastic to be a commander.

For decaphoebs Sniv had been toiling away, first as a foot soldier, then as a junior officer, a second lieutenant, and finally an SiC (Second in Command) of a Fleet. And now here he was, commander of his own Fleet and a member of the Hub—Zarkon’s respected commander’s circle.

Okay, so he was technically a sub-commander right now, but that only mattered on paper. To anyone lower than a lieutenant, he was a commander and a commander was not questioned.

A commander—even a sub-commander—could do whatever he wanted. Commanded however he pleased. And that was exactly what Sniv had been waiting for.

As a regular soldier, Sniv had noticed each commander had his own _niche_. Something that set them apart from the others, whether it was aesthetic or fighting style.

With Sendak, it was his perfect control over his very large arm and his ability to find a way to win no matter what. With Throk, it was his height and strategy to control hundreds of soldiers. Hazar had his plasma claws. Ranveig was a ruthless warlord. Morvok was a suck-up.

Sniv wanted to be known for having his own army of assassins. He wanted to have a strike force of his very own, not just an SiC.

The moment he got promoted was the moment he started shopping for mercenaries.

He had been pleased to find five qualified applicants within a movement.

The first two were identical twins, Desert Galra that could only be told apart by their shades. Varyk was a pale lilac, Boryk a dark lavender. Their markings—two stripes down either sides of the face—were identical. Even their butterfly-shaped ears were the same size. They were an excellent team, almost impossible to defeat in battle when they were together.

The third was a female Mountain Galra, standard purple shade, with big, foxish ears much like Throk’s. Her fur fanned out behind her neck in a darker shade, which Sniv found rather pretty. She was one of the best snipers in the galaxy, her words not his. Her name was Xerka.

The fourth was a Swamp Galra, a bit like Commander Hazar, but with larger butterfly ears and no rattail or lower protruding fangs. He was also considerably smaller in frame. He was Ratu.

And finally came Hepta, a River Galra like Sendak’s newest SiC, Haxus. Quiet and thoughtful, he was unique among the new team in that he was a genetics specialist. No one else could talk science like Hepta, and only Sniv could _kind of_ understand it.

To Sniv, they were perfect.

To everyone else in the universe, they were a means to keep Sniv’s hands clean. And they were offended.

“While you hide behind your little assassins,” High Commander Terva sneered one day at a commander meeting, “the rest of us will actually fight in battles.”

Sniv scoffed. “I intend to fight alongside them.”

The others in the Hub rolled their eyes. Sniv let them sneer. He’d carve out his niche soon enough, and then they’d all be _jealous_. Maybe he wasn’t ruthless or the perfect strategist, but at least he had the balls to fight with his soldiers.

High Commander Terva turned his attention to the other members of the Hub: Prorok (Terva’s SiC), Throk, Hazar, Raht, Branko, and Gnov were the veteran commanders. Sniv, Trugg, Ladnok, and three others were the junior commanders (with Sniv being the most junior). Today was a run-of-the-mill meeting, just some boring updates to the commanders’ lives and recent victories. Sniv glanced around, brow furrowing. Of all of the commanders present, only two seemed to be missing. Sendak—who was currently on a mission—and…

“Where is Commander Selvik?” Terva demanded. “Has anyone seen her?”

The other commanders shook their heads.

Terva sighed. “Fine. We’ll get started without her, then. Gnov, please write down a memo to reprimand her later.”

“Already on it.”

The meeting was going well—if rather boringly. Sniv would have fallen asleep if he hadn’t been thinking of all the ways he could utilize his new team. He was hoping to have Hepta set up some biological weaponry for the team, perhaps make torture sessions more fun for everyone except the victim.

About halfway through the meeting, someone came into the room unannounced, which immediately angered Terva.

“Who dares to interrupt a Hub meeting?” he demanded.

The intruder was a small ensign, still wearing his cute little helmet that marked him as such. He was breathing heavily. “I apologize for the interruption, Sir, but I have grave news to report. Commander Selvik and her lieutenant, Gorog, have been assassinated.

The silence that followed was almost as loud as a Veralpian Sniffer. Sniv’s heart had suddenly just dropped to his stomach. Every commander’s face had slacked in surprise, even Terva’s.

“Repeat that,” Terva then commanded.

The ensign began to shudder in fear. “C-Commander Selvik…. she’s been assassinated, Sir. Right in her living quarters. Lieutenant Gorog was also found dead in his quarters.”

“Gorog shares his quarters with someone,” Raht piped up. “That young Lieutenant, what’s his name?”

“Thace,” Prorok answered. “Gorog and Thace share quarters.”

Terva straightened up. “Go find Thace,” he ordered the ensign. “Bring him in for questioning. I will inform Emperor Zarkon of this tragic event. Everyone is allowed to retire, but there is no official dismissal until we find out who murdered Selvik and Gorog. Vrepit-sa.”

“Vrepit-sa,” came the automatic echo and subsequent salute of the other commanders.

* * *

Almost a varga after the incident, Sniv was called into Emperor Zarkon’s throne room. That immediately sent him into a cold sweat. What did the Emperor want? Had Sniv done something wrong? Was he about to get demoted or something?

He entered the throne room with stiff limbs, taking a knee and saluting as soon as he was close enough. The only ones present were Zarkon and his witch, Haggar. He didn’t look Zarkon in the eye, nor did he try to glance at Haggar too much. He silently prayed she wasn’t about to ‘recruit’ him for some sort of quintessence experiment.

“Commander Sniv,” Zarkon said in a low, calm voice. “High Commander Terva has informed me that you have gathered a small squad of mercenaries recently.”

Oh, _quiznack_. He immediately realized how awful his mercenary shopping’s timing had been. “My lord,” he quickly pleaded, “I had nothing to do with Commander Selvik’s assassination!”

“That much is obvious,” the emperor sneered. “I’m not pointing fingers at you, idiot. I’m making you head of the investigation.”

Sniv stiffened. Head of…wow. “I…Thank you, my lord.”

“Here’s your chance to show me what your new team can do. Find out who murdered Commander Selvik and Lieutenant Gorog and dispose of them immediately and without prejudice.”

“Yes, Sir,” Sniv said, barely containing his pride. “Vrepit-sa!”

“Your first task,” Haggar said, “is to question Lieutenant Thace. After that, you will report any and all findings to me or my Druids. I will relay the information to Lord Zarkon if it is important enough.”

Sniv frowned. Her? Why not High Commander Terva? “May I ask—?”

“No you may not,” Haggar growled. “You are dismissed.”

Sniv kept his head down as he marched out of the throne room. As soon as he was free, he opened up a communication line in his suit. “Hepta, Ratu, meet me in the Interrogation Hall. We’ve got our first mission.”

* * *

Thace had been handcuffed to the table in Interrogation Room Three. He seemed nervous, fidgety. He _definitely_ had something to hide.

Sniv entered the room with Ratu close behind. Hepta was stationed inside the listening chamber next door. Sniv sat across from Thace, Ratu positioned himself against the wall behind the young lieutenant.

“Lieutenant Thace,” Sniv began. “I am Commander Sniv, head of this investigation. Do you know why you’re here?”

“Probably has something to do with the fact that my roommate was lying on the floor without his head,” Thace answered calmly.

“Correct. So, when did you last see Gorog?”

“Last night. He and I were playing Fripker with some other officers until about 22. We both retired to our quarters at the same time. I woke up this morning and he was already out of his bunk. I went to get breakfast, came back, and he was dead. I was the one who discovered his body.”

Sniv stayed silent through the confession. Thace’s face was tight with worry, but he could see it wasn’t from hiding a murderous act. “What do you think, Ratu?”

“Sounds like a likely story,” the Swamp Galra growled. He peeled himself off the wall and grabbed Thace by the collar of his armor. “How do we know you aren’t lying? You could have killed him in his sleep, left for breakfast and conveniently ‘found’ his body afterward!”

Thace’s ears flattened. He snarled, “Let go of me! I didn’t do it, you idiot! I heard Commander Selvik was killed, too! When would I have done that? Check the cameras! Ask Ulaz, Vinkar, and Bor! They saw me at breakfast this morning; when would I have killed Selvik if I was the one that killed Gorog?”

Sniv held up a hand. Ratu placed Thace back in his chair. The young lieutenant cleared his throat, adjusting his armor back to a comfortable level.

“Checking the cameras sounds like an excellent idea, Lieutenant,” Sniv said with a smirk. “You’ll understand if we check the feed back to last night as well, I hope?”

Thace nodded. “Gorog was my roommate. Sir, I assure you: I didn’t kill him.”

“We’ll see.”

* * *

“How’d he do?” Sniv asked Hepta once they were inside the listening chamber.

Hepta looked at various readings on his data pad, his face neutral. “The truth gas is working perfectly. His nervous system reacted normally to your questions and prodding. He’s got secrets, that much is obvious, but whatever he’s hiding has nothing to do with the murders.”

Sniv nodded. He’d instructed Hepta to send a light gas into the interrogation chamber, something that was rarely used (and virtually unknown to Druids) but highly effective. It made the questioned party very susceptible to automatic truths and explanations, and if they were hiding anything, the body was put into overdrive. Heartbeat increased. Nervous ticks intensified. The little voice in one’s head that usually said ‘don’t say this’ became silent.

The gas was dissipated before interrogators entered the room, of course.

Sniv was curious about what Thace was hiding, but it could be anything ranging from lewd reading material stuffed in his mattress to a goddamn ion cannon hidden in his closet. At the moment, it didn’t matter and wasn’t worth reporting higher.

“Make a note about his behavior. If he does anything suspicious in the future, we’ll be ready to catch him. Until then, gas him again, wait a few dobashes, then release him. Ratu, is the bug set up?”

Ratu nodded. “Right on the underside of his chest plate’s back half, where you said to put it.”

“Monitor the recordings and report any odd behavior or confessions.”

* * *

Thace, Sniv decided, had not been the killer. Almost immediately, the Lieutenant had gone to Medical and confronted one of the doctors—Ulaz. Thace had asked Ulaz for any knowledge about the murders, but the doctor had also claimed innocence. During the conversation, there had been mention of some sort of blade, but Sniv left that for future inquiries.

In the meantime, Hepta poked around the science departments, trying to gather forensic information from both bodies. Sniv was hoping there would be traces of the murderer’s DNA, or maybe their weapon.

Three movements later, there was a new development in the case.

“Another commander was found dead this morning,” Xerka reported.

“Which one?”

“Korokar.”

Another junior officer, like Selvik. Like himself. “Where?”

“The galley.”

“Contact Hepta and follow me to the galley, then.”

* * *

The death had been gruesome. Sniv was used to death, but it was a little discomforting to see a fellow Hub commander on the ground with his innards out.

Hepta started scanning the scene immediately, processing every bit of forensics he could alongside the other scientists. Xerka and Sniv kept out of the way as everything was tagged and bagged.

“Any word on Korokar’s SiC?” Sniv asked.

“No,” Xerka answered. “She’s MIA.”

Sniv cursed. “Great. I’m sure Haggar’s going to _love_ this report.”

“Haggar will? I should hope _I_ will love this report instead.”

Everyone turned and saluted when High Commander Terva stomped into the galley. He was mad.

“High Commander?” Sniv straightened up and saluted.

“I’d heard an alarming scuttlebutt,” Terva grumbled. “That another member of the Hub had been killed in the galley. I _had_ been hoping that to be false.”

“We’re working out the details, Sir,” Hepta reported calmly, albeit nervously. “Initial forensics indicate a plasma weapon was used to slice the Commander open, though blunt force trauma seems to be a factor as well.”

“You got all that from initial looks?” Terva asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“My genetics specialist, Hepta, is the best,” Sniv said proudly. “Given time, he’ll be able to discern the exact cause of death, as well as the weapon used.”

“Really?” Terva kept his sharp eyes on Hepta. “What’s your rank, soldier?”

“Lieutenant Junior Grade, Sir,” the River Galra said.

Terva hummed in thought for a tic, then turned to Sniv. “When were you going to report your findings to me? Before or after Haggar?”

Sniv gulped. “Er…Well, uh, Sir…Lord Zarkon has ordered me to report any and all developments to the witch. Not…to you.”

Terva gave Sniv a glare so intense he might as well have had laser vision. “Oh, really? Fine, then.” He started walking out of the galley. “I suppose I’ll just sit back and watch you work. I won’t interfere unless Lord Zarkon deems me worthy enough to do so. Have fun with your investigation, Commander Sniv. I hope no one else dies because of your failure.”

Sniv swallowed the lump in his throat. That could have gone better.

“Sir?” Hepta caught his attention. “Do we continue reporting to Haggar?”

“Yes,” he said after a moment’s hesitation. “Keep going. Let me worry about the reports.”

* * *

The next day, Hepta was given new orders. From Emperor Zarkon himself.

“Transfer?” Sniv demanded. The other members of his team sat around a table, frightened and confused. “What do you mean you’re being transferred? You’re on _my_ team!”

Hepta looked sheepish. “I apologize, Sir, but…orders are orders. I was promoted to Lieutenant out of nowhere, and now I’m to be working with Sector 4’s genetics command. Apparently Haggar has some ideas she wants to tinker with and she needs the top geneticists in the galaxy to help jumpstart it. I’m sorry.”

Sniv was fuming, but sighed his anger away. “Did you at least get anything from the forensics study?”

Hepta nodded. “Closer looks revealed a plasma weapon was used. Before you say anything, the slice was singular and far too large to be Commander Hazar’s claws. I analyzed his files and found they make specific marks not found on Korokar’s body.”

“But Plasma weapons _are_ used primarily by senior officers,” Xerka added. “Perhaps we should set up some equipment in the officer quarters?”

The twins nodded in agreement. Ratu stayed silent.

“Order the surveillance equipment,” Sniv finally said. “Varyk, Boryk, when the equipment comes in, I want you two to handle the installation inside common areas. Ratu, you’ll install the bugs inside living quarters, including mine.”

“Including?” Xerka asked. “Why?”

“Because even though I am head of the investigation, I am not giving myself special treatment. If shit hits the fan, I will not be blamed wrongly because of poor judgement.”

The others nodded in understanding.

* * *

The surveillance equipment came three days later. Varyk and Boryk quickly set up everything in the common areas and hallways. They even included a few popular storage closets, because sometimes private quarters weren’t close enough for individual ‘meet-ups’ (Sniv was not looking forward to the inevitable dark side of that footage and recordings, but he had to make sacrifices for the sake of progression). The twins reported back with no problems.

Ratu was still setting everything up in the officers’ quarters.

“Status report,” he asked Xerka inside their secret listening hub in a currently-undisclosed location.

“The galley mics are good to go, cameras are a little wonky in certain places, but we can work with them. All storage mics and cameras are operational, as are almost all hallways.”

“Almost?”

“Checking the last one now.” Xerka pressed a button to show live feed of one of the passageways.

The image hiccupped for a few tics before clearing up to reveal two senior officers chatting in the hall. Throk and Hazar.

“Any audio?” Sniv asked hurriedly.

“One tic.”

Soon, the audio went live.

“…can’t believe this,” Throk growled. “Why would they make a junior officer head of investigations? Why not Prorok or Raht? Quiznack, even you or I could have done better!”

“Give it time,” Hazar said calmly. “I’m sure Sniv is working hard at this. If the junior officers keep getting picked off, it just puts a bigger fire under his ass before the assassin comes for him.”

“True,” Throk said thoughtfully. “But what if it _is_ him? He could be stalling the investigation long enough to set up a strike against Ladnok or Trugg next.”

“I doubt it, he doesn’t seem like one for major strategy like that.”

“But he does have that convenient team of personal mercenaries. Seems a bit too convenient.”

Suddenly, Terva had rounded a corner into the hallway. Sniv and Xerka watched intently as the High Commander approached his senior officers.

“Throk, Hazar,” he greeted gruffly. “Why aren’t you heading to the Hub meeting room?”

“Pardon?” Throk asked. “Is there a meeting scheduled today?”

“I’m calling an emergency meeting of the senior officers,” Terva said in a rush. “Report to the meeting room at once.”

“Shouldn’t we just include the juniors?” Hazar questioned. “Why only the senior commanders?”

“At the rate things are going, the juniors will all be dead and we’ll be the ones picked off next. Get to the meeting room, now, Throk. Hazar, go find Prorok. I’ll get Raht.”

The two commanders saluted and walked away. Terva kept going down the hallway, his strides long and purposed. Sniv put his hand on Xerka’s shoulder and muttered, “Keep an eye on Throk and Hazar’s progress. I’m watching Terva. If someone strikes, we’ll know.”

He followed Terva through the hall cameras, waiting for something to possibly happen, or for him to run into Raht. Interestingly, neither thing happened.

Terva rounded a corner, checked to see if the coast was clear, then immediately went into a storage closet.

Sniv was suddenly extremely grateful the twins had thought to put a camera there after all.

Terva didn’t do anything. He just stood there, tapping his foot. He checked his data pad a few times, scratched his chin, and yawned.

Sniv furrowed his brow. “What the…?”

“Sir,” Xerka piped up. “Throk is in the meeting room, but Hazar is still wandering around looking for Prorok.”

“Where’s Prorok?” Sniv asked, tearing his gaze away from Terva’s weird closet detour.

“Still searching,” she answered. “I can’t seem to find him, though he might be in his quarters.”

“Do we have anything set up there yet?”

“If we do, Ratu hasn’t given us the all-clear. Prorok might have run into him and started asking questions.”

Sniv hummed in thought. Then, he returned his gaze back to the closet cam, only to find…

“Where’d he go?”

Terva was out of the closet. Sniv checked the nearest cameras in a panic. Had someone struck? No, wait, there he was. Terva was on the move again, this time heading toward the meeting room.

“Weird,” he mumbled aloud. “Raht wasn’t with him. Maybe he messaged him…?”

Something wasn’t right. He could feel it in his bones.

“Xerka,” he ordered. “Go find Ratu. Now. Contact the twins and have them stationed outside the meeting room. Make it clear they are _not_ to be seen. They will await my signal to strike.”

“Strike? Wait, where are you going?”

“To the senior officers meeting. I have a bad feeling someone is about to interrupt it.”

* * *

Sniv positioned himself outside the entrance to the meeting room. He sensed the twins were nearby, and was grateful for their backup.

“What’s the signal?” Varyk asked.

“’Now’ is a pretty good signal,” Sniv quipped. “If you hear me yell ‘NOW’, burst in and back me up.”

“Roger,” the twins said in unison.

Sniv put his ear against the door, straining to hear any sort of conversation. Oddly, it was near-silent inside. He didn’t like that at all. Even if only Terva and Throk were inside, shouldn’t _someone_ initiate some sort of conversation?

And suddenly something happened. A scream. A terrifying, guttural scream that made Sniv’s bone marrow freeze. It sounded like Throk!

He unlocked the door and ran inside. Almost immediately he froze.

Throk was on the ground, blood pouring from two giant gashes—each gash split his arms away from his shoulders. His shoulders were so messy and bloody, Sniv almost missed the fact that his bones were showing. His _joints_ were in pieces.

How his arms were still attached was something Sniv would never know. He rushed to Throk’s side, bending down and holding the senior commander’s head in his hands.

“Throk,” he cried. “Hang in there. The other senior commanders will be here soon. They’ll send for help.”

“No…” Throk coughed up blood, trying to speak. His voice was very weak. “It…It was a…trap…”

“A trap?” Sniv echoed. “Who set it up?”

“I did.”

Sniv turned his head when a new voice spoke up. Right as he turned, something slashed across his face diagonally. It burned as it ripped, and Sniv knew he’d been hit with a plasma blade.

Blood poured into one of his eyes, blinding him. He hit the ground next to Throk, writhing in pain.

A hand grabbed him by his hair, pulling him upwards. “Such a shame,” a familiar voice growled. “You were doing great for a junior commander.”

Sniv opened his eyes, blinking away the stars and blood. “…Co—Commander Terva?”

The High Commander was smiling wickedly, as if proud. “Congrats, Sniv, you caught the murderer. You deserve a reward.”

Agony shot through Sniv’s chest. A plasma blade ripped through his armor like a knife through goo.

“It is a shame you did your job so well,” Terva said with a smirk. “I should have just transferred you like I did Hepta.”

“You…” Sniv tried to keep himself from blacking out. “…You transferred…Hepta…Why?”

“Because he was getting dangerously close to figuring out it was me,” Terva confessed. “In just a few minutes he’d deduced it was a plasma weapon. It was sloppy of me to make my weapon of choice so obvious, but I’ve got a pattern, now. And I do so love a pattern.” He chuckled. “At least it was easy to convince Haggar to take Hepta on her little top secret operation. I’m sure he’s much more useful to her than he ever would be to a dead commander.”

“…B-But…Why?”

Terva dropped Sniv and started walking toward Throk. “Because you’re all weak. Every single one of you, from you young-bloods to the old-timers who should have retired decaphoebs ago, you’re all _weak_! I’m doing the Empire a favor, culling the sick weeds from the garden!”

Sniv spat blood in Terva’s general direction. “You’re a disgrace to the Empire!”

Terva laughed. “I beg to differ. Look at yourself. Look at Throk. You two don’t deserve to be in the Hub. I will keep weeding out you weaklings and rebuild the Hub. We will be the mighty fist of Zarkon, ruling the universe with strength and purity!”

“…you’re the weak one,” Sniv snarled. “You called me a coward for fighting alongside my own mercenaries, yet here you are _NOW_ …stabbing your own Hub members in the back.”

“Complain all you want,” Terva mocked. “It’s time you both _die_.”

He was about to swing his plasma sword down when a laser shot it out of his hand. Terva yelped in alarm, clutching his hand. “What the--?”

Sniv felt a pair of hands support him. “I’ve got you, Sir.” It was Varyk, judging by the voice. At least, Sniv assumed that was what Varyk sounded like. His thoughts were getting muddled.

Sniv turned his fogging gaze back to Terva, who was locked in battle with Boryk—or was that actually Varyk? Sniv really needed to paint one of them green or something. His mercenary was holding his own against Terva, but was clearly outmatched in hand-to-hand combat. He needed his twin.

“…help…your brother,” Sniv muttered. “I’ll be…fine…”

The commander was laid against the wall, propped up just enough so he could place pressure on his bleeding chest wound. Sniv watched as Varyk/Boryk jumped into battle to double-team Terva. The High Commander roared in defiance as the twins ganged up on him.

Sniv smirked. “Tell me again…how…cowardly I am…for having…a team…”

Terva glared at him as he shoved the twins back. “You _are_ a coward, Sniv. You always will be!”

Sniv looked over to his right. A small weapon—a gun—was lying just out of reach. He figured Throk must have tried to put up a fight and had gotten disarmed before being… _disarmed_. Sniv reached for the gun, his arm screaming in agony as it pulled against his stab wound. He bit through the pain, grabbing the gun and taking aim.

Damn his vision, it was getting too hard to see through the blood and burning. He focused on the High Commander—the blotch of red between two black figures—and fired.

All went still. The twins were frozen in place. Terva had stopped mid-swing.

The High Commander looked at Sniv, murder in his eyes. “Y-You…!” he snarled.

He took one step toward Sniv. His legs crumpled beneath him and he collapsed to the ground. Terva gasped once, twice, then went still.

Sniv grinned. “Who’s…the coward, now?”

* * *

That day, there had been only two casualties: High Commander Terva and Ratu the mercenary.

Ratu, Sniv was later told, had apparently gotten caught in Terva’s room trying to install the surveillance equipment. Terva had most likely killed him on the spot, but left the body to retrieve after killing Throk.

Throk had somehow held on long enough to be carried to Medical, where the doctors had worked for hours stitching the commander back up. Eventually, Haggar had been called to share some ideas on saving his arms. Shoulder pauldrons were quickly designed to help keep Throk’s shattered shoulder joints together. While huge, they allowed much more fluid movement and _some_ basic support. (Translation: no more push-ups, but sword-swinging= A-OK)

Somehow, Terva’s plasma blade had _missed_ both of Sniv’s eyes during the initial slash. He would have a nasty scar cutting across his face, but it would always serve as a reminder of his victory. He was proud to have it. The scar across his chest, not so much…That one was ugly and painful, a harsh reminder of what _could_ have been a massive failure. Every time he looked at it in the mirror, he would see the scar of naivete. He resolved to be more careful in the future.

There wasn’t much of a power vacuum in the wake of Terva’s death; Prorok had been his SiC, and as such was fully prepared to take the job. He’d been interrogated thoroughly regarding Terva’s betrayal, but Prorok had confessed he’d had no idea about Terva’s plans. He’d been left in the dark, same as everyone else. He’d even appointed Thace as his SiC, to some commanders’ chagrin. Sniv felt indifferent towards the decision, as questionable as it had been.

The transfer of Hepta to Haggar’s special operations department had been a devastating blow on Sniv’s team, and he’d pleaded for a reversal, but Haggar was insistent that Hepta’s abilities would be better served under her. Hepta was gone for good. But, Sniv decided, that didn’t mean he couldn’t be a useful contact for tough missions from time to time.

Sniv was down to three mercenaries now, after his very first mission with his team. Oh well, he conceded to himself. Lessons were learned. Sacrifices were made. He’d pluck another mercenary—maybe two—from the lower enlisted, ready to prove their worth to the Empire, and move on. He still had the twins. He still had Xerka. He still had his own life.

There was something that made Sniv grin, sometimes: A seasoned commander—the highest in the whole Empire—had been taken down by a junior commander and his _little assassins_.

**Author's Note:**

> And there you have it! I'm sorry this felt rushed, but I had a 5k limit and didn't think it would be hard to condense. I was wrong. Maybe in the future there will be short stories for Sniv and his crew, to help flesh them out more. Hepta was also fun, so perhaps one day there will be a story involving him~!


End file.
